Testing, Testing, 1 2 3
by zodiac38352
Summary: Here's a little sneak peek at my upcoming story. Be forewarned, this is going to be rated M for a reason. If that bothers you, your going to have a bad time. And as a forewarning, this borders on M for some of the matters discussed, so be prepared for that as well.


**Hey there, ladies and gentlemen. Sorry about the lack of any updates recently, but I happen to be a full-time college student, and with serious career goals that means I haven't been able to update at nearly the speed I was originally hoping. I am going to write the entirety of "To Heal a Broken Heart" and its sequels, but it is going to take a while. But let's be merry, as it is around Christmas when I'll be posting this and this is my gift to you all: A sneak peak of an upcoming story. As a warning, it will be M rated and quite smutty, so I absolutely cannot recommend anyone under the age of 18 to read it. If that does not bother you, then this should be fun. Merry Christmas, and hopefully I can update more often next year.**

_The year was 1931. The Great War had just ended, but there was still plenty of mess for people to worry about. With Prohibition in full force in the Canopy Kingdom, crimes of all sort became commonplace to compensate. In addition, plenty of orphaned women, as well as the odd man or two that had no place to go began to take up the role of "pleasurable company". Along with that, a bitter rivalry has exploded between the resident Medici Mafia, as well as the up and coming Vagabond Mafia, over control of the criminal underworld in the kingdom. In order to quell this, a deal was struck in the form of a marriage between the heirs of the families. Events leading up to the marriage, however, changed the whole course of the future, and it all began on May 23._

**The Lab Zero Brothel, New Meridian: 5:00 P.M**

Carol looked out her window towards the still sleeping red-light district. In just about an hour, however, she knew it would begin to bustle with activity. People from all over would come in order to forget their troubles: some with the slew of speakeasies in the area, others to the many ladies willing to make a man forget his troubles, even if only for a short time.

_And as of tonight_, Carol thought, _that'll be my job. _She clutched her chest, terrified at the idea of being someone's… plaything. To be taken advantage of, all for the sake of cheap thrills and profits.

_Well maybe not cheap. _She thought. _Brain Drain makes sure of that. _Suddenly, she heard the door open behind her. Looking to see who it was, she found it was Sienna, her best friend and fellow prostitute. She was fairly tall, with jet black hair and fair skin. She also possessed an overall nice, but not outrageous figure, the sole exception being her rather voluptuous hips. This was well accentuated by the fact she was still currently in her underwear, which really showed off her natural figure.

"Oh, hey there Squigly." Carol said, using the nickname Sienna had earned for herself back when they were little.

"Hi Carol, You ready for tonight?" Carol's heart skipped a beat, reminded that this would be her and Sienna's first night out.

"Y-Yeah. Of course I'm ready." Sienna was quick to note how her friend stuttered, and she was just as quick to figure out what was probably going through her head. With a sigh of concern, she quickly walked up and put a hand on Carol's shoulder.

"It's all right to admit you're scared. I am too." Carol was trembling at this point, and she said something she'd been bottling up for a while now.

"Why do we have to do this? Why is it that we haven't had a single good thing happen to us our whole lives!? You, Filia, and I all lost our parents, Filia got separated from us, and when we get adopted, it's so that sicko Brain Drain can train us into being whores. I'm sick of it all!" Sienna was surprised at not only what Carol had said, but that deep down she felt the exact same: their lives had been pretty terrible over the years, and it didn't seem like things were getting any better.

"What… what if we tried to run? If it's just the two of us, we could probably get away without Brain Drain noticing."

"And then what? We're a pair of 17 year old girls with no education, no skills beyond sex, and no family to look after us or take us in. Damn it, if life hates me so much, why not just put an end to me already?" By now, Carol was fighting back tears, enraged at the cruelty of it all. With no other option left, Sienna turned Carol towards her, and then wrapped her arms around her, putting her in a tight embrace.

"I know our current situation is awful, but we have to keep going. I don't know how, and I don't know when, but if we give up, then things will never get better. For now, all we can do is keep surviving and hope that things get better." With nothing else to lose, Carol began to sob into Sienna's arms, both at the touching nature of her actions, as well as the fact that she was right- the only thing they could do now is hope that there's something better for them in the future. So she cried and cried, all the while Sienna holding her close. Eventually, she ran out of tears, and looked towards her friend, and saw that she had been sobbing quietly as well, and the two continued to hug each other. It was only when another person entered the room that they stopped.

"Sorry if I'm interrupting a personal moment, but work is going to be starting in just a bit." The two girls looked and saw Valentine in the door. The oldest person there at 35, she had a beauty that could only be described as Amazonian, with an equally large series of proportions, wearing a nurses outfit that allowed her to give off a more seductive air. Even with a scar running down her mouth, she was still quite beautiful. Shocked by her sudden appearance, the two girls separated.

"Sorry you had to see that, Miss Valentine." Carol apologized. "We're just a little scared about tonight." Valentine couldn't help but grin at this.

"Its fine that you two had your moment: you'd go insane otherwise from this lifestyle. But from what you were saying before, Carol, it seems that there are plenty more things you're mad about." Both the girls were shocked at this

"When-"

"How-"

"You left the door open, and when Carol gets going on something, she can get pretty loud. Just be glad Brain Drain isn't here. I can't imagine he would take well to being called a sicko." Carol blushed profusely hearing that. "Don't worry; I don't plan on telling that man anything. Also, sicko isn't the right way to describe him-bastard fits a bit better." This actually got the pair laughing, which was a great relief for Valentine. "But like I said, we only have a little time before work starts, so it'd probably be wise to grab a bite." Confused, Carol looked outside the window and saw, to her shock that the sun had already begun to set, and that meant it would be time to head out soon.

"Shoot. How the heck did that much time pass?" Sienna gave a soft smile at her question, her face still bearing some of the sorrow from her crying.

"I guess time flies when you're pouring your heart out. Still, Valentine's right: we should go grab some food and get ready."

"Yeah, I suppose your right. You head on down. I'll be there in just a sec." While uncertain of it being a wise idea, Sienna obliged, leaving the door open behind her. With a sigh, Carol turned towards the mirror in her room, and looked at her reflection. Standing at only 5'1'', she was overall very small, thin, and nowhere near as well endowed as any of the other ladies at the Brothel.

_Not even sure why I'm that concerned of someone actually paying to have sex with me. Considering everyone else here, who would ever go for a girl like me?_ With a groan, both of resignation and inferiority, Carol left her room, heading downstairs to the kitchen.

**River King Casino, 6:30 P.M**

At the River King Casino, it's quite possible to go from rags to riches, and then back to rags, in just a matter of a few minutes. They had every sort of gambling game, from billiards and slots to blackjack and Texas Hold Em. It was at one such Hold Em table that quite an interesting game was taking place. A full table of 10 players was now reduced to just three. One was a regular at the casino, a rather nasty looking man by the name of Ricardio, dressed up in his typical mafia attire. Next to him was his friend Lawerence, dressed in similar attire. The odd one was the newcomer was Aiden, and started with the $10 minimum buy in. Unlike the other two, there was very little one could gleam from his appearance, with a fairly normal looking gray suit, albeit a rather new and clean looking one, unkempt black hair, and blue eyes, he looked like a kid compared to the other two men. His body language didn't help, either: not once in the entire game had the smile he'd entered the game with left his face, and he never reacted to what his cards were, good or bad.

In spite of that, he was winning, with most of the other players' money in front of him, including quite a bit of Ricardio's and Lawerence's. With each of the other men having only $20 left, they had hit their do or die moment. By now, each of the men had their cards, and the community cards were interesting, with the 7, 8 10, Jack, and Ace of Spades. Carefully, Aiden looked at the two men, gauging their reactions. He then did something insane: without so much as looking at his own cards, he pushed all of his winnings to the center of the table.

"All in." Both men were shocked, with a mixture of fear and confidence. With but a moment's hesitation, they followed suite, each pushing their far smaller amounts in.

"Call" They both shouted, each flipping their cards over. Lawerence had the 6 and 9 of hearts, making for a straight, but Ricardio had done him one better, with the Kind and Queen of diamonds, the highest straight. Lawerence wasn't too concerned that he had lost, as the two men had been working together the whole of the game. Looking towards Aiden, they were shocked to find that his grin had grown even larger, and flipped over his own cards, the King and Queen of spades. The two men held their celebratory expressions for a moment, but upon realization of what his cards meant.

"Roy-"

"Royal…"

"It's called a Royal Flush, gentlemen, and with that, I believe I win." Even as he was saying this, he was grabbing and stacking the pile of money in front of him. "To be fair, you came close, but you shouldn't have called that hand." Enraged, Ricardio grabbed Aiden by his collar and shoved him right into a nearby pillar.

"You-You arrogant little twerp. Do you know who my friend and I are?" Even with the two men looking ready to kill him, Aiden had not lost his calm, which infuriated them even more.

"A pair of idiots trying to make a quick buck? Regardless, I would recommend you let me go now." Ricardo laughed at this, and Lawrence now had a knife out, ready to slit the young man's throat. Everyone else in the casino was frozen too afraid to move. Even the dealer was too afraid to try anything, preferring to let business between customers to handle itself.

"Oh really? And what are you going to do about it?" Lawrence mocked, knife now pointed at the young man.

"I'm not going to do a thing." Aiden explained. "My friends, on the other hand, will take quite a bit of exception to this." Even as he said this, the sound of a sword being drawn could be heard, and in a flash the _clank _of metal hitting metal could be heard, and a new figure had appeared. With short, white hair and a suit the color of night, he held an aura of intimidation. In his hand was an equally ornate and deadly looking katana, with a dragon's head forming the bottom of the hilt and a blade whose red coloring gave off the impression it was on fire, which he'd just started to sheath. As he finished, Lawrence was surprised to find that his knife had been broken at the blade, leaving a useless hilt, but before he could even react, the stranger punched him in the gut, knocking him unconscious. The man then set his sights on Ricardio, who was quite unsettled by the way his hazel eyes had an empty look to them.

"Apologies, but I happen to be that man's bodyguard, and I'd far prefer to keep my sword unstained with your blood, so do you think we could makes things easier by just releasing him?" Out of instinctual fear, Ricardio let Aiden go, and then attempted to reach for something in his coat pocket. Before he could, though, he began to feel a cold sensation on the side of his head.

"You're already in trouble for assault. It'd be smarter to just quit while you're ahead." With a sigh, Ricardio removed his hand from his pocket and put his hands on his head. He then turned around, and saw a young Black Egret soldier before him. Easily the tallest of the men there, he wore his uniform and standard haircut with a sense of dignity and respect that was almost as suffocating as the other man's intimidation. In his hands was a Peacemaker, a pistol only given to high ranking officers, and this one in particular was well recognized as Brigadier General Adam Kapowski, the Hero of the Great War. With a sigh of relief, Adam turned towards the dealer.

"Pardon me, miss, but do you think you could avoid contacting the police? I have some friends outside that can be sure their put away properly, and probably a bit quicker than calling it in." Noting the danger was finally over, as well as the fact of who was talking to her, she responded quickly.

"Sure thing. I-I mean yes Sir Mr. Papowski, Sir." Adam grinned a little, quite used to this reaction by now.

"Adam will do just fine, miss. Also, I apologize on my friends' behalf for any trouble they caused." Turning towards Aiden, he frowned. "What did you even do to cause this?"

"I just called them out on a dumb move." This caused Adam to raise an eyebrow, until he saw the amount of money on the table. Grabbing Ricardio, he started heading out the door.

"I see you still haven't changed, Aiden. Still getting yourself in trouble so Siegfried and I can bail you out." At the sound of his name, the young swordsman grabbed Lawerence, putting him over his shoulder as if he weighed almost nothing at all.

"And you're still the same goody two-shoes that can't help but save people. For the record, I could have handled these two without your help." Siegfried taunted, showing no concern whatsoever that he'd just badmouthed a high ranking military officer. Turning towards Aiden he showed a momentary look of concern, but returned to his dead look once he noted Aiden seemed uninjured, and was instead just watching the two. "Then again, at least your way prevents me having to waste time killing punks. So thanks, I guess." Aiden rolled his eyes at this statement, and then shook his head apologetically to Adam.

"As you can see, Sieg still hasn't developed much of a sense of humor. Always direct and to the point with him. Nice to see you back, by the way." Turning back towards the table, he counted his money, then took half of it, handing it back to the dealer. "Consider this an apology for any suffering my associates and I caused. Just consider it a big tip for you." The dealer by this point was blushing, having been treated so nicely by not only a hero, but this stranger that never seemed to want to hurt anyone. Before she could utter a reply, however, the three men had already headed out, leaving her to question what all she had seen that night.

**Outside, just a few minutes later**

"Thanks a ton, Roxie." Adam said to one of his friends, A tall, very dark-skinned woman with puffy brown hair and mechanics clothes. Alongside her, preparing to transport the two criminals was Molly, a more traditionally clothed communications officer, who had already contacted the police via a private line. "And sorry to be wasting your time off." Roxane shrugged, clearly thinking about other things. Molly, however, got an excited look on her face.

"Don't worry, Adam. This was so exciting. You got to capture the perps, and be so cool doing it. By the way, who are your friends over there?" Roxie raised her head at this question, equally curious about their identity. With a child-like grin on his face, Aiden waved.

"I'm Aiden Donovan, and this here is my bodyguard and best friend, Siegfried Kampfer. We and Adam have known each other since we were kids. If you're interested, I've got a couple of embarrassing stories about Adam to tell. Like that time we went to the pool and…" Before he could say anything else, Siegfried put Aiden in a headlock, preventing him from speaking anymore.

"Sorry about that. Aiden is a bit of a moron, hence how he got in trouble doing nothing but playing poker. But if we're done here, Aiden and I need to hang out with Adam tonight: We've got some important news to tell him." Confused by this, Adam looked at Aiden, but he was otherwise occupied trying to escape Siegfried's hold. "It's personal though, so as nice as you two ladies seem, I'm afraid I can't disclose anything." This just befuddled Adam even more, but Roxie gave an enthusiastic pat on the back.

"Go ahead and take him! I'm sure the 'Hero' can have at least one night off. Enjoy yourself, Adam; maybe even go to one of those speakeasies I keep hearing about and have a drink for me." Roxanne declared with feeling in her voice. Knowing she wouldn't stop him now, Adam gave a meek smile at the two, as Aiden was able to somehow slither his way out of Siegfried's headlock.

"I guess we're going partying tonight. Drinks on you, Aiden? Especially since we all know you have enough." With a sigh, Aiden nodded.

"Fine, I'll pay. But let's get going, we've got a long night ahead of us.

**So, does this peak your interest? Hopefully I can deliver the best possible. Please read and review, and I'll take that as a sign of the popularity of the idea. **


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